Nature's Sudden Impact

After having riden out hurricane Ivan in my home in Gulf Breeze I have an appreciation for the power and impact of a Cat IV hurricane making landfall uncomfortably close but I also knew it was coming and had days to prepare. Homes 3 blocks south of my house experienced up to 12 feet of storm surge. In a perfect world the populations that lived on the coasts around the Indian Ocean could have had 5 to 6 hours advanced notice but in reality they had only moments. So many lives irrevocably changed in a twinkling of an eye.

NOAA has a pretty interesting article on the Tsunami.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/s2357.htm